Its getting closer to time to put everything back together and I’ve got a long list of things to clean. For the glass I’m using dissolve-it and windex. For the rubber, I’m washing them in soap warm water, followed by paint clean up and rubber restorer. Lots of old moss and Earl Schieb on the rubber. The opera window seals were trapping moisture causing rust, so I wanted to remove the old sealant and replace it. I believe I can get a new locking strip from Restoration Specialties.

We took off just about all of remaining parts in preparation for media blasting including the glass. The windshields are known to be difficult and prone to cracking. I originally was on the fence about taking out the windscreen (all other glass though) but it only made sense if you’re going to take it this far, you have to address rust where it may lurk. I had my eye on several windscreens that were available but didn’t really have room to keep a spare. Well, now I have room. On the CAR! If the windscreen seal wasn’t rarer than the windshield it would have made sense to just cut it out and install a new one.

More pictures on Monday, it was getting dark and we were bummed about the cracked windshield.

Note the rust in the channel, we knew it was there. With the dash pad residue off you can also see the original ‘cream’ or ‘marble white’ WH 02.

To prep ourselves on the windshield removal, we got the c-post and fixed rear door glass out. Both of these are installed with lock strips. On the c-post glass, we pulled the lock strip out, but on the fixed rear door glass we were able to remove it with the lock strip intact. The plastic lock strip for the c-post glass is available through Restoration Specialties. The left side came out clean and looked good, but the right side has some rust under it.

Media blasting is scheduled for Monday August 1st, so we’ll be removing the remaining glass and trim on Friday.

You can see from the photos that the lockstrips in the window seal gaskets are really weathered. Years of exposure to the elements causes the material to shrink, harden and discolor. In some areas it can shrink excessively (over 2 inches). I got a couple of recommendations for http://www.restorationspecialties.com/ from various people including members of the NWSOC.

On the 1977 99 5DR there are 3 sizes of lock strips. One for the windscreen, a smaller one for the rear window and an even smaller one for the rear quarter tear drop windows.

The samples arrived:

The top piece is an original from the tear drop window.
The center piece is WLS416 which may work for the door pulls
The bottom piece is WLS848 for the windshield

I’ve also been told to try WLS100 and WLS466 for the rear and side windows. Will update the post when I know.

It looks like they’ll have just what I need and thankfully the gaskets all look to be in good shape and can be reused as long as we take the glass out carefully. The center strip in the picture won’t work for the windows, but I found a use for it. The door pulls all have a plastic chrome strip that has also shrunk and become damaged. When I get around to restoring the interior, I’ll be sure to have several feet of it for them.